Hugging Face Acquires Pollen Robotics to Expand Open-Source AI in Humanoid Robotics

By James Dargan · 15 April 2025 · 1 min read

Hugging Face has acquired French robotics startup Pollen Robotics in a move that deepens its push into open source humanoid robotics. The deal, reported by Wired, will see Hugging Face take over Pollen’s flagship robot, Reachy 2, allowing developers to access, modify, and contribute to its codebase.

Founded in 2016 by Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet, Pollen Robotics had raised €2.5 million from investors including Bpifrance. The acquisition follows the companies’ previous collaboration on “Le Robot,” an open source household assistant.

Hugging Face’s robotics efforts are led by Remi Cadene, a former Tesla Optimus engineer. The company plans to further integrate AI with hardware by supporting community-driven development of robotic systems.

Featured image: Credit: Pollen Robotics

Topicsacquisition AI business capital markets Hugging Face Pollen Robotics Robotics

About the author

James Dargan

James Dargan is a writer and researcher at The AI Insider. His focus is on the AI startup ecosystem and he writes articles on the space that have a tone accessible to the average reader.

Hugging Face Acquires Pollen Robotics to Expand Open-Source AI in Humanoid Robotics

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